The Hittite

rock relief A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found as part of, or in conjunction with, ro ...

Fıraktın relief (or ''Fraktın'') is located roughly 50 km south of

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...

in the province of the same name in southern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, at Fıraktın on the bank of the Enzel Dere, a tributary of the Zamantı Irmağı.

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

called the place ''Dastarkon''. Rock reliefs are a prominent aspect of

Hittite art Hittite art was produced by the Hittite civilization in ancient Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey, and also stretching into Syria during the second millennium BCE from the nineteenth century up until the twelfth century BCE. This period falls under ...

Location

The relief is in a steep valley, between

Mount Erciyes Mount Erciyes ( tr, Erciyes Dağı), also known as Argaeus (Greek: ) is a volcano in Turkey. It is a large stratovolcano surrounded by many monogenetic vents and lava domes, and one maar. The bulk of the volcano is formed by lava flows of andesi ...

and the

Anti-Taurus Mountains The Anti-Taurus Mountains (from el, Αντίταυρος) are a mountain range in southern and eastern Turkey, curving northeast from the Taurus Mountains. At , Mount Erciyes ( Turkish: Erciyes Dağı) is the highest peak not just in the ran ...

east of

Develi Develi, formerly known as Averak, is a town and district in Kayseri Province in Central Anatolia Region, Turkey. History The historical name of the town is Everek and it is called ''Averak'' (oren, ruin) in Armenian. The historian, geographer, ...

. The valley was historically an important route into

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...

(and from there into

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

via the Gezbeli and Küçük Gezbeli passes). A Mycenaean vase was found nearby, which probably came via Cilicia.Albrecht Goetze: ''Kulturgeschichte Kleinasiens''. C. H. Beck, München 1974, S. 182.
bei GoogleBooks
/ref> Between 1880 and 1939, five reliefs from Hittite times were discovered in this location, more than in any other spot in Anatolia. The other four reliefs are Hanyeri, İmamkullu and Taşçı A and B.Horst Ehringhaus: ''Götter, Herrscher, Inschriften. Die Felsreliefs der hethitischen Großreichszeit in der Türkei.'' Zabern, Mainz 2005, pp. 59–65.

Description

The relief is about 1.3 m x 3.2 m and was made in the 13th century BC, in the time of the Hittite empire. It faces northwest, towards Mount Erciyes, which like all mountains was worshiped in Hittite times. The relief is in three parts. The left section shows the

Hittite king The dating and sequence of the Hittite kings is compiled from fragmentary records, supplemented by the recent find in Hattusa of a cache of more than 3500 seal impressions giving names and titles and genealogy of Hittite kings. All dates given here ...

Hattusili III Ḫattušili (''Ḫattušiliš'' in the inflected nominative case) was the regnal name of three Hittite kings: * Ḫattušili I (Labarna II) *Ḫattušili II *Ḫattušili III It was also the name of two Neo-Hittite kings: * Ḫattušili I (Labarn ...

(right) making an offering to the

weather god A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...

, pouring water from a kind of beaked flagon into a vessel on the ground. Between them there is an altar like structure, with a grooved, conical item on top, probably offering-bread. Both the god and the king wear pointed hats, which symbolised divinity. From this, it can be concluded that the image was probably made after Hattusili's death in the reign of his son and successor

Tudhaliya IV Tudhaliya is the name of several Hittite kings: *Tudhaliya (also Tudhaliya I) is a hypothetic pre-Empire king of the Hittites. He would have reigned in the late 17th century BC ( short chronology). Forlanini (1993) conjectures that this king corres ...

, since the Hittite kings were considered divine after their deaths. The weather god holds a crook in his hands. In front of each of their heads are hieroglyphic symbols, naming the depicted individuals. Puduhepa

In the middle scene is his wife,

Tawannanna Tawananna is the title for the queen of the Hittites, the king's consort, as long as she was living. Upon her death the title ''Tawananna'' passed to her daughter or the new king's consort, whichever was available to ascend. The Hittites were rule ...

Puduhepa (right), making a

libation A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today. Various substa ...

to the Sun goddess Hebat. There is an altar between these two figures as well, with a bird or a bird-shaped vessel on top of it. The depiction gets rougher on the right end; probably the work was not finished. The third part of the relief consists of massive

Luwian hieroglyphs Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous logographic script native to central Anatolia, consisting of some 500 signs. They were once commonly known as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language they encode proved to be Luwian, not Hittite, and the ter ...

. The continue the description of the queen which begins beside her head, "Daughter of the land of

Kizzuwatna Kizzuwatna (or Kizzuwadna; in Ancient Egyptian ''Kode'' or ''Qode''), was an ancient Anatolian kingdom in the 2nd millennium BC. It was situated in the highlands of southeastern Anatolia, near the Gulf of İskenderun, in modern-day Turkey. It enc ...

, beloved by the divine." Firaktin2Kayseri

A concrete copy of the relief can be viewed at the Kayseri Museum, as well as a plaster cast in the

Pergamonmuseum The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Clas ...

in Berlin.

References

Bibliography

Kay Kohlmeyer The name Kay is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a feminine name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own ...

. "Felsbilder der hethitischen Großreichszeit." ''Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica'' 15 (1983) pp. 67–74. * Eberhard P. Rossner. ''Die hethitischen Felsreliefs in der Türkei.'' 2nd Edition, 1988, . *

Horst Ehringhaus Horst may refer to: Science * Horst (geology), a raised fault block bounded by normal faults or graben People * Horst (given name) * Horst (surname) * ter Horst, Dutch surname * van der Horst, Dutch surname Places Settlements Germany * Horst, ...

. ''Götter, Herrscher, Inschriften. Die Felsreliefs der hethitischen Großreichszeit in der Türkei.'' Zabern, Mainz 2005, , pp. 59–65.

External links

www.hittitemonuments.com (engl.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firaktin relief Hittite art Hittite sites in Turkey Luwian inscriptions Kayseri Province Archaeological sites in the Mediterranean Region, Turkey Rock reliefs in Turkey